9 replies to this topic

[Dion]

This is a real longshot. Does anybody remember the jukebox in the El Toreador?
It was blue and I think it might have been a Rockola.

[Alan]

was the El Toreador the one in Bickerstaff Street that was earlier called The Rendezvous?

[Griffin]

You're older than me, Alan, but it was called the El Toreador by the time I was old enough to notice it. The exterior was clad in coloured Vitrolite with a picture of a bullfighter over the window. I remember the juke box very well. It was the inspiration for a short story I wrote some years ago. The entrance door was across a corner, as I recall. As you went in, the juke box was on your right between the door and the window on Hall Street. I can't remember the make, but Rock-ola rings a bell. What intrigued me was that it played the records in a different order to that in which they were selected. Even at the age of 12, in 1964, I wanted to know why that was, but I never found out. Sadly, that cafe became a Chinese takeaway in the late seventies.

[DJGAZZA]

Would that be were the walk in centre is now?

[gilly]

DJGAZZA, on 21 January 2010 - 11:58 PM, said:

Would that be were the walk in centre is now?

No if you look at the swan /chippy with your back to the walk in centre it would be to your left.Roughly where the buses go into the station.The front door was opposite(directly/adjacent?) to the end building on the corner of Hall st and Bickerstaffe st.In the 60's it was run by Rita who used to sell milkshakes in those old fashioned Horlicks mugs,the ones with solid handles(no fingerholes).

[DJGAZZA]

I've got you Thanks Gilly I don't remember it myself, too young LOL

[Griffin]

That's something else I remember. When I went in the El Toreador, frothy coffee was all the rage, and they served it in glass cups and saucers. For some reason, the finger hole was always too small, and it was difficult to hold the cup securely.

[Dave D]

Rita who used to run The Elted used to do a mean Horlicks with the aid of the machine they had on the counter.

[Griffin]

What strikes me is that, in those days, young people could enjoy themselves for a whole evening without a drop of alcohol. A group of motor cyclists used to frequent the El Toreador in 1964. If they'd used alcohol, they wouldn't have lived long. I mostly recall the man behind the counter, because he was my friend's uncle. Does anybody remember his name?

[Dion]

Griffin, on 21 January 2010 - 11:40 PM, said:

You're older than me, Alan, but it was called the El Toreador by the time I was old enough to notice it. The exterior was clad in coloured Vitrolite with a picture of a bullfighter over the window. I remember the juke box very well. It was the inspiration for a short story I wrote some years ago. The entrance door was across a corner, as I recall. As you went in, the juke box was on your right between the door and the window on Hall Street. I can't remember the make, but Rock-ola rings a bell. What intrigued me was that it played the records in a different order to that in which they were selected. Even at the age of 12, in 1964, I wanted to know why that was, but I never found out. Sadly, that cafe became a Chinese takeaway in the late seventies.

The reason old jukeboxes play the records in a different order to what is selected is because they all sit in a drum which revolves.As the drum turns it hits pins which correspond with the selection,therefore it can only play in order of the records in the drum.
If you selected every single record on the jukebox in any random order it would play them in the order they are listed.
This is how mechanical jukeboxes work, but later electronic jukeboxes may have been different.